Record material testing machine



Aug. 10, 1937. J. SULLIVAN RECORD MATERIAL TESTING MACHINE Fild May Zl,1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 FIG-2 ZINVENTOR. #41

A TORNEY Aug. 1937 J. L. SULLIVAN 2,089,308

RECORD MATERIAL TESTING MACHINE Filed May 21, 1935 I 4,Sheets-Sheet 2FIG. 3

v/ JZVENTQR. $4M,

- ATTO NEY J. SULLIVAN 2,089,308

RECORD MATERIAL TESTING MA CHL NE Aug. 10, 1937.

Filed May 21, 1955 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 414M 06 IiVENTOR.

T ATTO EY.

Aug. 10, 1937. J. L. SULLIVAN RECORD MATERIAL TESTING MACHINE Filed May21, 1935 4 Sheets-Sheet 4 UWee ag 0000 I No I 7.5a. L 740.

IN VEN TOR.

A TTORN Patented Aug. 10, 1937 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE ternationalBusiness Machi nes Corporation,

New York, N. Y., a co tation of New York Application May 21,

o Claims.

This invention relates to machines for analyzing record material todetect imperfectionstherein. Tabulating record cards, such as used inthe well-known Hollerith type of accounting machines, are sensed byelectric brushes which cause a circuit through differentially locatedpunch-holes. The particular location of these holes controls the time ofcompletion of the adding and printing circuits. The imperforate portionof the card acts as an insulator and permits completion of the registerand circuits only through the punch-holes. Obviously apertures otherwiseoccurring in the card, for example, im-

perfections in the stock, may be insuch a position as to permit acircuit to be completed elsewhere than through a punch-hole, or theremay beimbedded in the card a bit of conducting material, such as carbon,which will permit the same result when encountered by an analyzingbrush.

. In either case, one or more of the adding or printing devices may beoperated to effect an erroneous recording.

The present invention provides means for analyzing the record materialfrom which cards are to be'made, before the material is cut into such 5cards. The card stock is generally provided in rolls of a widthgenerally equal to seven or eight times the width of the ltabulatingcard. This sheet of material is fed through a slitting machine andseparated into rolls of the exact width 0 of the record cards. As thesheet of material passes from the original roll to the slitting knives,

' sets of analyzing brushes, one for each strip into which the roll isto be divided, sense their respective portions of the sheet and if anyone set encounters an imperfection such as will permit the completion ofa circuit through the stock, it will cause the operation of a markingdevice of which there is one provided for each possible strip.

Each marking device has a wiping member a 40 which when moved againstthe record material as it passesthrough the machine will stripe asection of the material and this stripe will extend for a predetermineddistance to either side of the point at which the imperfection is noted.After the wide roll of material has been divided into the rolls oflesser width, those of the latter,

in which imperfections have been found, will contain one or more stripesindicating sections of the material which are unsuitable for machinecontrol purposes. The final rolls are later placed in card presses ofthetype shown in Patent No. 1,563,014 issued to F. M. Carroll, November 24,1925. In such machines the card stock is printed and cut into therequired card lengths which are 1935, Serial No. 22,664

now the finished record cards. Among them, however, may be one or morerecord cards upon which there is to be found the striplng". Such cardsare readily identifiable upon inspection and are removed from theremainder.

In the preparation of certain types of tabulat- 5 ing cards, especiallycards that are to be used as negotiable instruments, the card pressesserially number the record cards as they are printed and cut off fromthe roll. It is obvious that in such a group of cards the discarding ofone or more because of the presence of imperfection-indicating stripingwill incur a gap in the sequence of the serial numbering. It isaccordingly desirable that for this class of work rolls of stripmaterial in which there are found no imperfections at all be used, andthe present invention contemplates means operable by theimperfectiondetecting devices for automatically labelling those rolls inwhich no imperfections are sensed.

A further object of this invention is to provide striping mechanism ofimproved form. The further object is to provide automatic means formaintaining a substantially uniform tension on the record material as itis fed through the machine.

A further object is to provide novel alining dezcesl to control thetravel of the record maria Various other objects and advantages of theinvention will be obvious from the following particular description ofone form of mechanism embodying the invention or from an inspection ofthe accompanying drawings; and the invention also constitutes certainnew and useful features of construction and combination of partshereinafter set forth and claimed.

In the drawings:

Fig. 1 is a central section of the entire apparatus showingsubstantially the path of travel of the record material and the locationof analyzing brushes, striping, and slitting devices.

Fig. 2 is a detail of the tensioning mechanism.

Fig. 3 is a section taken substantially along the lines 33 of Fig. 1showing the card stock roller alining device.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged sectional detail of the marking device anditscontroll'ing mechanism.

Fig. 5 is a section taken substantially on the lines 5-5 of Fig. 1showing the arrangement and manner of operation of the striping device.

Fig. 6 is a wiring diagram of the electrical circuits in the machine.

Fig. 6a is a detail of a counter actuating magnet.

Fig. 7 is a modified form showing the mechaas it leaves the roll andsince rod ll nism for labelling the finished rolls after the materialhas been analyzed.

Feeding mechanism In Fig. 1 the roll of card material l0, which issecured to .rod II, is placed in the supporting brackets of the frame inwhich the rod II and the roll l0 are axially movable. The web is thenthreaded around a series of fixed guide rollers l2 and a floating rollerl3 which is suitably supported for vertical movement. The web is thenguided past the sensing station generally designated A, thence past thestriping station designated B, around fixed rollers l4, pulling rollersl5, and through the slitting station generally designated C to pair ofrollers It. From rollers IS the separated alternate strips are guidedover rollers l1 and "to form rolls IS. The rolls I! are of a width equalto that of the record cards into which the strips are later to bedivided in other machines.

Drive 20 is the main drive shaft of the machine and may be driven fromany suitable source of power. The shaft 20 has gear connection 2| toshaft 22 from which gearing 23 drives the pulling rollers II. Rollers I6 are also driven from shaft 22 through gearing 24. Shafts throughgearing generally designated 2| and 25. As the rollers I5 draw the cardstock from roll ill around rollers l2, l3, and I4 the stock is ironed"before it reaches the sensing station A.

Alining and tensioning mechanism Secured to rod H is a gear 28 whichmeshes with an idler 21 which in turn meshes with the gear 28 (see alsoFig. 2). Gear 28 is mounted upon a stud 29 secured in the frame 30 ofthe machine. Also threaded upon stud 29 is a brake arm-3i between whichand gear 24 is a friction disk 32. The opposite face of gear 28 abuts anadjustable lock nut 33. If brake lever 3| is rotated in one direction itpresses 28 against the lock nut 33 and tends to restrain the gearagainst rotation and consequently through gears 21. and 26 imposes asimilar restraint upon roll l0. Conversely, if the brake lever is rockedin the opposite direction, the restraining influence is lessened. InFig. l the free end of brake lever 3| is connected to one end of a link34 whose other end is connected to the supporting arm of roller II. Ifthe card stock in its passage around rollers i2 slackens, rollers IIwill move downwardly to cause counterclockwise rotation of arm II, whichwill serve to brake the roll II and consequent tightening of the web. Asroll it rises the movement of arm 3! in the opposite direction will havethe opposite effect.

Referring now to Fig. 3, the edges of roll III are engaged by flangedrollers 35 adjustably secured upon rod 38 carried by a frame 21 pivotedon rod 34. The rollers 35 are held against roll I by'means of a weight39 (see Fig; 1) from which a wire 44, after passing over suitable guidepulleys, is connected to the frame 11. Frequently the roll ll inhandling becomes telescoped" so that the card stock tends to have aslight axial movement as it unwinds.

The rollers 35 hold the web in rigid alinement is axially the body ofthe roll to accommodate any stock will commence movable in its bearings,itself will shift slightly unevenness and the card I! and I8 are drivenI to travel through the machine upon a fixed and definite path.

Sensing station The sensing station A is diagrammatically represented atthe upper part of Fig. 6 and comprises a plurality of staggered contactplates 4i insulated from, one another and from the rest of the machine,there being one plate for each of the strips into which the web is to beslit. Cooperating with the plates 4| are sets of analyzing brushes 42which are electrically connected to one another. The sets of brushes 42are each slightly wider than the section of the card which constitutesthe associated strip, so that an imperfection occurring along the lineof slitting will be sensed by both overlapping sets of brushes and thetwo adjoining strips will accordingly be marked to denote theimperfection.

Striping mechanism Referring to FlgsA and 5, there is provided acontainer 43 from each of which there extends one end of a felt wick 44whose other end dips into the coloring material within the container.The container is slidably mounted in guides 45 secured to a plate 46 andeach container has secured thereto 9. lug 41 provided with an openingwhich fits over a pin 48 secured in a secondary slide 49 which issuitably mounted in guides for horizontal reciprocation in plate 50.

Plate 46 is secured to plate 50 by means of screws 5| (see Fig. 5) uponthe removal of which the plate 46 may be removed together with thecontainers thereon for refilling p rposes and lugs 41 will lift from outof engagement with pins 48. Each slide 49 has connected thereto a wirecable 52 which is guided around pulleys 53 and has its opposite endconnected to the depending arm of a cam follower 54. The cam roller 55(Fig. 4) of follower 54, is adapted to cooperate with a cam 56 freelymounted on the shaft 51. Upon rotation of cam 56 the follower arm 54will be rocked counterclockwise as viewed in Fig. 4 to draw upon cable52 thus moving slide 49 toward the record materia. Through theconnection 41, 48 the container 43 will move therewith and wick 44 willbe held against the material predetermined period after the imperfectionitself has passed the wick.

The shaft 51 is driven from rollers l5 (see Fig. 1) through a chain 59.Secured upon the shaft are clutch driving elements 58, which accordinglyare in constant rotation whilethe machine is in operation.

Carried by each cam 54 is a spring-pressed pawl 80 which is normallyengaged by a latching lever 6| pivoted at 62. A clutch magnet 63 whenenergized will rock lever 8| to release pawl 80 and cam 58 willaccordingly rotate with shaft 51. The magnet 62 is deenergized duringthe cycle thus initiated and the restoring spring of lever 6| willreturn the latter to latching position to disengage 56 after arevolution has been completed. Lever 6| is provided with an extensionwhich is adapted to close a pair of contacts 64 whose function will beexplained in connection with the circuit diagram.

slitting deviw For each of the strips into which the initial web isdivided thereis provided a counting device mo of the magneticallyoperated type, each of which comprises an operating magnet 66 (Fig. 6a)which upon energization causes rocking of an armature 61 attached to theactuating shaft of the well-known type of Veedor counter.

Whenever an imperfection is detected on a strip, its associated countermagnet 66 is energized concurrently with the energization of theassociated clutch magnet 63, so that finally each counter will recordthe number of imperfections detected in its strip. Those counters thathave not been operated throughout the testing of a complete roll willserve as an indication that the related roll I9 is free of imperfectionsand accordingly suitable for the preparation of the more particularforms of record-cards, such as bank checks mentioned above.

Circuit diagram Referring now to the circuit diagram, Fig. 6, there areshown two clutch magnets 63 and associated contact devices which arecontrolled by two of the sections of the record material. It will beunderstood that further similar devices are provided for each of theother sections and their illustration has been omitted as being merely arepetition of the two sets of devices illustrated. The upper clutchmagnet 63 shown in Fig. 6 is that associated with section I of therecord material and upon detection therein of an imperfection a circuitwill be completed from the left side of line 10, through wire H, the setof brushes 42 which traverse section I, the imperfection in the strip,contact plate 4|, wire 12, relay magnets 13 and 14 in parallel, normallyclosed cam controlled contacts '15, to line 16. The controlling cam'llof contacts 15 is integral with the cam 96 of Fig. 4. Energization ofrelay ma net 14 will close its contacts 14a, completing a circuit fromline 10 through wire l9, contact 14a, clutch magnet 63, to line 16. Jihecircuit also goes through counter magnet 66 in parallel with magnet 63,so that the count will be made concurrently with the drawing of thestriping wick against the record material.

A further cam 19, also integral with cam 56 of Fig. 4, is adapted toclose a pair of contacts BI] to complete a circuit from'line I8,contacts 80, magnets 93 and 69, to line I6, and these magnets willremain energized until contacts 99 again open. The relay magnet I3closes its contacts 13a to provide a holding circuit for relay magnet 14to hold the circuit through magnets 63 and 66 until cam contacts close.This holding circuit is traceable from wire 18, contact 13a, relaymagnets 13 and 14 in parallel, contacts I5, to line 16. The timing issuch that contacts 89 close before contacts 15 open to drop the holdingcircuit. I

As pointed out above, energization of magnet 63 will also cause closingof contacts 64 which complete a circuit through a signal lamp 8| whichlies in the common return line of the contacts 64, so that detection ofan imperfection at any section of the web will cause illumination ofthis lamp to signal to the attendant that an imperfection is present.Prolonged illumination of this lamp serves as an indication that someserious defect is present in the web, in which case the machine may bestopped to determine the reason.

For each section there is provided a lamp 82 of low candle power whosefunction is to insure that the operating circuits of the detectingmechanism are in working order. The circuit for lamp 82 extends throughthe fuse 83 which if it should become overloaded and open the circuit,would result .in the subsequent failure of its associated detectingcircuits to respond to imperfections. Accordingly as long as lamps 82continue to glow the attendant will know that the detecting circuits arein proper working order.

Modification In Fig. 7 is diagrammatically shown a modified form of theinvention whereby the rolls IS in which no imperfections are found willbe automatically marked to so indicate. Lying in the path of each of theseparate strips is a spring-pressed plunger having a printing wheel 9|at one end, which is adapted to press the strip against a plate 92.armature latch 93 normally holds the wheel out of engagement with thestrip and energization of magnet 94 will release the latch to preventsuch engagement. A further armature latch 95 is provided which, when itsoperating magnet 96 is energized, will rock latch 95 into engagementwith latch 93 to prevent the successful operation of the latter. A thirdlatch 91 is provided to lock latch 95 in position if it is operated. The

magnet 96 may be included in the circuit of Fig. -6 in place of countingmagnet 66 or in parallel therewith if. so desired. It will be thusapparent that upon sensing of any imperfection, mag net 96 will becomeenergized and its armature latched in locking position, so that theprinting wheel 9| associated with a particular strip cannot be operated.If no imperfections are found in a strip so that the related magnet 96receives no energization during the analyzing of the web, magnet 94 maybe energized asthe trailing end of the web passes the analyzing station.This is brought about under control of a so-called card lever 98 whichas long as the record material is passing the same will maintain a pairof contacts 99 in open position.

As the trailing end of the record material passes lever 98 contacts 99will close causing the circuit to all of the magnets 94 in parallel andthose which are not latched will trip their printing wheels to print onthe trailing section of the strip some identifying designationsuch as,Free of imperfections or the like--so that for special purposes thedesired roll may be readily selected.

While there has been shown and described and pointed out the fundamentalnovel features of the invention as applied to two modifications,

A spring-pressed it will be understood that various omissions andsubstitutions and changes in the form and details of the devicesillustrated and in their operation may be made by those skilled in theart 5 without departing from the spirit of the invention. It is theintention therefore to be limited only as indicated by the scope of thefollowing claims.

What is claimed is as follows:

1. In a machine for testing non-conducting record material forimperfections which permit conduction through the material, means forfeeding a web, means for slitting the same into strips, a plurality ofsensing stations one for each strip of the web, a plurality of stripingdevices, one for each strip, and means controlled by each sensingstation upon sensing an imperfection, for causing the correspondingstriping device to effect a striping of predetermined length of asection of the related strip.

2. In a machine for testing non-conducting record material forimperfections which permit conduction through the material, means forfeeding a web, a sensing station, a striping device comprising a liquidcontainer and a wiper whose one end extends into said container andwhose other end lies adjacent to said web, and means controlled by saidsensing station upon sensing an imperfection, for sliding said con- 3tainer toward said web to engage said wiper therewith whereby a markwill be made on the web.

3. In a machine for testing record material for imperfections, means forfeeding a web from a roll, means for slitting the same into strips andwinding said strips to form rolls, means for sensing said strips forimperfections, means for labelling each strip roll and means controlledby said sensing means for preventing the operation of said labellingmeans with respect to strips in which imperfections are sensed.

4. In a machine of the class described, means for sensing a strip ofrecord material for imperfections, means for winding said strip to forma roll, means for labelling the trailing end of said strip and meanscontrolled by said sensing means for controlling the operation of saidlabelling means.

5. In a machine of the class described, means for feeding a web, meansfor slitting said web into strips and winding said strips to formseparate rolls, means for testing each strip for imperfections andprinting means controlled by said testing means for effecting anindication upon the rolls in which no imperfections are sensed.

6. In a machine of the class described, means for feeding a web, meansfor slitting said web into strips and winding said strips to formseparate rolls, means for testing each strip for imperfections andprinting means controlled by said testing means for distinguishing, .byprinting upon the rolls, those having imperfections from those having noimperfections therein.

JOHN L. SULLIVAN.

